Leaderboard

Left Cobbs at 6.45am on Sunday with my eldest son James and his son Lenny , his first fishing trip with his grandad and he had been telling me the night before at a BBQ at theirs he was going to catch a shark, so no pressure! 🫣 While leaving the harbour through the entrance I noticed a marker bouy with a small fender being used as a Taylor bouy in the tide just off North Haven mast. Suspect fishing nets been laid overnight across the entrance!! As it was and would become a hazard as the traffic increased I radioed Harbour Control and reported it and they sent someone to investigate. i listened on Ch 14 and when they got there the fishing boat was trying to retrieve their suck net! As this was going on Barfluer asked for permission to leave their berth to go to France and were refused as there was a hazard in the shipping channel and were asked to hold station. They were soon on their way but it shows the impact peoples actions can have on others. First thing worth reporting. But the main thing worth reporting is we went Bassing, and James caught a mackerel on a Bass lure, what a result a mackerel and we weren’t even fishing for them. 👏👏 As Lenny wanted to catch a shark I hoped a fresh mackerel may encourage a tope or two over slack water, by then Lenny was producing his own ground bait, bless him as the wind had started to increase. The tope didn’t show up but an LSD did so managed to blag him with a mate of a shark story. Took his mind off the waves by letting him drive back so he was happy, auto pilot worked overtime though. He slept well and has been telling his mum all about it today so it sounds like it all worked out fine.

I will try to do these in order Fish on Hang on Dave An idea of the tackle being used, to look after the fish's welfare and keep the fight short. Colour, Wow a thresher!! It buggers off again Great fish , well done mate Well deserved reward Nice fish.

I hadn't had a Sole this year so a good window appeared Saturday/Sunday night, the weather looked good both days so we organised a day out Sunday to. We left Cobbs for the 5.30 bridge having had a bad run down, a huge amount of unhealthy food that could be microwaved and a good supply of Guinness zero we got to the bridges. Crew looked upset, "I've left the Guinness behind!!" hey ho. Our plan was Squid, Cuttle , and Sole Saturday night then Plaice on Sunday with Stuie. We got down the front trying for Macks but none obliged, an hour of daylight and a couple of drifts produced some Plaice but all small. Down with the hook as darkness fell only to find my anchor light had blown which left me a bit twitchy, luckily flat calm and no wind except 3-4mph SW. The fun fair raged on the pier followed by a firework display just as caught my first Squid on a jig. The Squid and Cuttle were not throwing themselves at us but a steady flow gave us nearly a bucket full. All this time we had 4 Sole rods out, every single cast single or double shots of Pout, then the Congers started, from bootlaces to feisty 15lbs EVERY SINGLE DAMN DROP!!!!! Usually taking the Pout which had just eaten the Sole bait, we had one occasion where a Pout took the worm, a conger about 3-4lbs took the Pout and a 15lbs Conger then ate the pair of them!!!! Cannabalistic Congers (could be good to thin them out!!) So we moved, the disco at Studland was that loud we could pick out the tunes and sing along, a lot of Bowie which i like. MORE Conger and Pout, another move and same again. It was about 2am now and i was getting fed up with straps and Pout so said to J2 i was going to put my head down for an hour. He was into another fish and suddenly a shout, grabbing the net i looked over to see a Turbot i thought which turned out to be a lunker of a Plaice on the first dropper, followed by a Pout on the second and b----r me a chunky Sole on the bottom dropper!!!!! My crew really do have golden goolies!!!. Obviously sleep was forgotten but only more conger, and pout and small Bream, a few squid and Cuttle followed. I did mange a great Red Mullet and a few strings of Scad as daylight broke. ALL night a trawler was working south of us around Dolphin Sands and another just East of East Looe in front of Sandbanks and Canford Cliffs really close in. We headed in to get Stuie from Cobbs on the 7.30 then out with him on 8.30. First drift in the Swash as per usual Stuie had the first Plaice, some Wrasse Giltheads and Plaice to follow. The weeds and crowds started around 10 so off down the front. A few bits and pieces but nothing exciting, around 12 j2 and me were begining to flag and the wind was getting up, so we tried the Patch, with no new speices and wind getting even more we headed in for a Gilt in the harbour before getting the 2.30 bridge. We had a great trip ticking the boxes but a shame we didnt find a few more Sole. Brilliant to have Stuie on board showing us how to do it, but i have to say the body does not like doing straights any more!!! It never used to be a problem but i certainly new it after driving back to Wiltshire. Hopefully a photo if i have sorted out my JPEG from my HEIF!!!!

Out on Friday and Saturday in Poole area with the two Trevor's. Both days went well with plenty of fish, Tope to 30lb, Smooth Hound 11lb, Congers, Bass, Bream. The weather good both days with some intervals when it got a little bumpy. Both Trev's are good company and a very sociable enjoyable weekend. Plenty of laughs and a bit of banter and a few dodgy knots to laugh about. 1 mackerel over two trips and 4 lazy lines out most of the time. Martin was along side on Saturday. (They get up late in Poole). We had been on anchor for a couple of hours😄. In good club spirit, we delivered some bait over as we past by. On Friday TT and I spotted a Sib by Hengistbury going back to Christchurch and we both said ‘sod that for a game of soldiers’. Today, at the boat show, I spoke to a couple and … guess what? ….it was them. What are the chances of that? TW done a great job on the wash down and left me with little to do. I was pretty exhausted after two days, definitely feeling my age, but still had a blast, thanks guys for a lovely weekend.

Having seen lots of reports of some decent Pollock being caught, yesterdays weather window and tide to good to miss. 7.30 bridge and a lovely calm sea and a good run just over two hours at 23knots bought us to our first wreck. Two shooting friends and Dogfish Dave on board, the two friends were new to wrecking so i had tied up lots of rigs!!!! First drift an 8lbs Pollock for Baz, his first ever Pollock so over the moon and a good Red Gurnard to Dave and a fat Pout for Piggy. The sun came out and it was glorious, nearly 200ft with a maximium 3 knot drift all the ducks were in a row! A reasonably steady flow of fish throughout the day with some smaller ones managing to be put back. I christened a new SPJ outfit with first a PB 15lbs Pollock, then a 19lbs Pollock then an 18lbs fish!!!! All the fish gods were smiling on me that day for sure. With 3 Pollock each i decided we should head for home for the 4.30 bridge, after 10 minutes we hit a VERY thick fog bank, about 50m viz, radar on 3 other very experienced Yachtmaster crew on board helped one watching the radar, and two on watch was good for confidence, encountered one small boat off Durleston on the radar then one total ejit in the Swash doing 20knots with no radar echo on a rib!!!! Luckily we made the bridge with time to spare, none of us had seen fog in the forecast. Really red letter day for me and a great all round craic.

My 1st Bluefin !!

Having sold Joint Venture quickly, Adam and I settled on a 7.9m Cheetah Cat with twin 150hp outboards to continue our boat fishing partnership. We checked out four on the market at the time, and settled on one in Belgium that was being used by a commercial fisherman there. (Apparently a 7 tonne bass quota is not enough to be worth the effort!) Three years old, very basic spec but engines and electronics were in good order. Within a few weeks the boat was brought over to Ramsgate, transported to my drive, VAT paid and settled in for the winter to be prepared for the 2024 season. It soon became apparent that there was a gulf between a Belgian fisherman’s “that’ll” do self installation and Adam’s near OCD desire for everything to be spot on. So I did my bit by keeping out of the way in New Zealand while Adam and Rob got stuck in, mainly rewiring everything, adding an oven and galley, fitting side rails and a custom cool box/bait board/rod holder as well as a good clean, cut and polish + anti-foul and with a few tweaks she was good to go. BEFORE - Belgian wiring AFTER - Rob’s wiring New Galley - oven, stove and sink in Adam’s hand made unit finished in Cheetah Grey to match interior. Custom frame for IceyTek cool box and bait board Adam and I both joined North Haven Yacht Club, taking one of their swinging moorings. While we were sad to lose the convenience of a fork lift launch and recovery and a pontoon walk to the boat - we resented the 45% price increase in two years and the take it or leave it attitude that prevailed. NHYC is proving to be a vibrant friendly club of c 600 members who all muck in to keep costs down and make it a success. Unfortunately we lost a few weeks as Poole Boat Transport no longer seemed to be trading, but Malcolm Elvy came to the rescue, lifted Kodiak last Saturday and after squeezing down a lane between two Sunseeker factories, quietly dropped us in opposite Poole Quay. Engines started first time, we dropped our new tender off on our mooring and we set off for our first proper sea trial and a quick fish. Our focus was on checking all systems, and establishing speed v fuel consumption. First impressions were the flat ride, low noise and ease of manoeuvring. Flat out she gave 30knots but 20 knots was the sweet spot in terms of fuel per nautical mile. The only items requiring attention was to calibrate the auto pilot and adjust the throttle controls. VIDEO-2024-05-21-10-26-24.mp4 In the short fishing time available we managed a few bream, some mackerel, some small bass, a smoothound and an LSD for good measure. And we managed to test the oven for the signature spicy pasta bake. No it’s not a bathtub! It looks bigger in my garage………. We then got back to our mooring as we were quickly running out of water to get back to NHYC, and three men in an 8’ tender plus gear showed us that more than one run ashore may be required in future! The yacht club run a water taxi to the moorings from 8.00am until 5.00pm which is great, but too often we need 5.00am until 8.00pm so the dinghy will get regular use. KODIAK on her new berth Adam and Rob managed a couple of hours on Tuesday with a Bass each for their trouble - and we look forward to many safe and successful trips in years to come.

Chris and I went out 7.00am Sunday on a very low Spring, no problems with air draft. The boat needed defrosting and so did we, the Flood was fast and furious and mainly after we had passed through the swash, on the return in that was a different matter very little wind but 2mtr waves standing up. We tucked round the corner in Swanage hoping the fish had done the same, they had but they were all LSD variety. As the speed of tide eased we moved out on some banks along with a couple of Charters, still very slow we even had to wait for a doggie to bite. By the time it sped up we decided to give Swanage ago on the Ebb when the tide has less swirling, just LSD. So another move saw us drifting for a flattie, no bites at all. We crossed the Swash and got caught up in the 2mtr waves and that was enough, the final whistle, we had had enough, hopefully a cold Guinness was available, even that was not definite due to a bar refurb. thankfully they were open. Water temp measured at 10 degrees, I wonder if things will switch on when it reaches the magical 12 degrees. We still had a great day out in the sunshine around our beautiful coastline, a few fish other than doggies would have brightened up the day. A fuel up, a wash down and a Guinness saw the end to another 13 hour day. No rocking required when we got home.

Boats out tomorrow so a nice weather window was to good to miss, J2, Norfolk Nick and Chris was feeling up to a trip which was great to see him back out, the plan was Spurdogs, well that didn't work!!! First drop J2 had a nice Blonde then a LSD, then everything went pretty quiet for probably a couple of hours. We had grumpy commercials fishing round us catching a LOT of Bass and good ones to. Even though the Bass ban was on we decided to have a couple of drifts, well after 2-3 drifts catching a couple a drift all around the 5lbs mark and putting them back i persuaded Chris to have my rod for a drift. " Get a 10lbs err please Chris, never had a double on this boat" Next drift you got it Chris, had a stunning 10lbs 11oz fish on the deck!!!!!!!!!. Few more drifts and getting more depressed seeing the commercials catching huge numbers of really good fish all 5-10lbs all about to spawn, we decided on a move. Back to the 50/50s where we had a really great couple of hours catching Whiting to 3lbs, Congers to 20lbs, and an early Smoothound. It got really hectic for a while with great banter and even some mickey taking!!!!!! Quick run home filleted the Whiting through the 3.30 bridge, oh yes first catch of the day, and season, was a tern for J2 on a surface lure as daylight broke!. Great first trip with lots of craic.

My mate Gaz with a 17lb blonde today, 01 Nov.

Had a trip out Saturday as the Easterly was low enough to give it a try as the rest of the week looks a write off. Eldest son James asked if his father in law Tim could join us so off we went. Comment as we went under the bridge never been sick on a boat ever from Tim 🫣, his daughter suffers from travel sickness if she isn’t driving and Lenny my Grandson has been seasick both times he’s been out, 🤷. Anyway, cracking morning and no wind at all until off Old Harry and then not too bad. Plan was some bassing then anchor over the slack etc, I decided I would try for some fresh Maccy’s while the others went for bass. Well the bass came quicker than the mackerel again after several drifts producing fish every drift but nothing for me! Then James and Tim managed to tangle on the way down and I got hit at last, only problem was it was bass on the feathers all of them and the Dexter lure. I got them up and James managed to get three into the net the biggest on the Dexter snapped off in the commotion but the others were all keepers so can’t complain. By now Tim had started to ground bait for us which really wasn’t working because of the tide. 🤷🤮 so we now know what side of the family the motion sickness comes from. We carried on until the tide backed off and dropped the anchor for a bit of fun. Still no fresh mackerel but had squid, frozen mac etc, we had congers, some lovely bream and again a screamer run off but as soon as pressure put on the line the leader cut through 6-7 from the hook, thresher tail maybe? By then the small showers were getting heavier so we decided a couple of bass drifts on the way back and call it a day. It started blowing abit and the rain heavier we had a drift and called it a day as we were drenched through. It never stopped all the way in, bumped into Martin B on the pontoon who kindly bought us a pint, a coffee and shower should have been what we needed, but what a gent. 👍👏 Boat didn’t need a wash down after the last couple of days!! 😂 When James got home Lenny had drawn a picture of his dad and both of his grandads out fishing together.

Haven't done one of these for a while As Charlie is much better at doing them With the weather looking reasonable Sunday and me and the crew having other commitments Saturday A quick plan was made Mark and Mick met at the boat just after 8 We headed out to see if we could find any fresh bait nothing found so with the frozen bait decided to have a go with that Quick chat with Jerry and we were anchored about 100m apart a bit slow with only a few strap congers a small bass and then I managed a tope to about 30lb A decision was made to try a drift for shark's now I've been trying quiet hard the last 2 year's to get one so conference wasn't high but the crew agreed to give it a go We started drift about 1.30 and was going to give it a few hour's Well we started getting a few mackerel after about an hour so they were changed from the frozen one's Which seemed to do the trick as we had a big run On the furthest rod out but as we were clearing the other rod's the fish spat the hook But it had really but a good bend in the rod so confidence was high and the rods were deployed again Which was good as about 40 mins later 2 of the rod's showed some interest Then the second closest rod screamed of the other rod's were cleared and the fight began fighting belt attached and 30min later and a bit of dancing around the boat we get estimate 200lb thresher shark upto the boat were we leader it take as many photos as possible then released it mission accomplished Hopefully some one might be able to add some photos

A trip out on Wednesday with my mate Rob Rennie having not caught up with him for 2-3 years proved pretty slow to say the least. Rob catches huge numbers of sharks in the Celtic Deeps and i wanted him to approve my set up and rigs etc as the few times we have dabbled with little success. I know some chaps who fish our area sharking a lot, with great success with Threshers and Porgies, but the numbers just are not in our waters so more time and effort needed. Well i was glad everything i was doing was right, except again no sharks around yesterday!!! 0-3mph wind forecast, however it was a horrible lumpy chop 18 miles off with a lazy swell mixed in somehow. We drifted 6 wrecks which we felt all had nets on as we left over a dozen shads on to our annoyance with not even a Pout to show for our troubles. Slack water approaching and not a fish on the deck i decided to anchor a wreck in 140ft, well first attempt spot on, except the anchor dragged straight into the wreck after 10mins!!! Not happy i played the dart board game and luckily after 15mins we got everything back and the anchor hadn't even tripped. I decided some banks close to the wrecks a better option. Rods out and a really good chum trail nothing was happening except the usual congers to 25lbs and only 2 Pout!. The tide swung round and after a bit of knitting with shark rods we settled for a couple of hours on the flood. Not the best anchoring while sharking but at least we had a chance to bottom fish whilst a toothy bait was out. Getting close to pulling stumps Dogfish had a nice Huss just over 10lbs followed by second next drop 14lbs a pb for him so at least we had achieved something. Real last knockings i had a bite which proved to be a 6lbs Bass. Homeward bound we had a nice but choppy dry day, put the world right about 100 times, bacon butties, crab sandwiches, about 50 cups of tea, very few fish. I think i will wait for the Whiting to come before my next trip out, unless the weathers right!!!!!

With a changeable forecast we had a few alternative plans, hide or run deep, run deep won, we really like that unknown catch element. The sea was moderate with a forecast to reduce and it did. It turned out to be a calm day at Sea with limited visibility all day, the Needles were not always there, similarly Old Harry. Inshore mackerel were elusive, but we had some on anchor, just enough for the day, plus frozen for chopping up and feeding at the stand. The day was even longer than my last at 14 hours, but every minute was nearly enjoyable. On this mark, on two visits, I have been beaten up by something very large, that was the not so enjoyable bit. Both times it has bitten through immediately or swipe through 80lb hook length way up the trace. New hook length 130lb, and if it is what I think it might be, I will drop a wire down for good measure as well on the next visit. Dropped the anchor down about 8.00am, we had a bit of flood and all the Ebb before we headed back to port. We have never seen so many 12 inch congers, we moved 500yards and left them behind. The witching hour was upon us and the rod tips did not disappoint, plenty of fish including Blondes up to small doubles, Tope and a good Bull Huss of 10lb. We really need to keep an accurate tally, we had plenty of sport all day and all fish returned except for the mackerel. A good smooth run in followed by a good wash down and a pint of Guinness to end a great day with my good buddy.

Another fine day out on Madness, Same old, Same old! All I had all day was small Bream robbing my bait. Martin had ½ a dozen ish Plaice. 4 of which were Keepers, which being the Gent that he is he shared with Me. He also had 2 small Bream, and 2 Gurnard. (And almost some Mackerel) which got off the lazy line before he could put his other rod down. 😪 I got scorched by the Sun. It was a lovely day afloat. Such a real treat. Thank you again Martin for a very enjoyable day. 👍

After spending many an hour on Kodiak on shore, and having missed the launch on Saturday. Adam invited me to reignite out Tuesday evening fishing club! I meet him by the fish and chip shop , grabbed our dinner and took it to eat on the veranda at North Haven. Load up the dinghy and out to Kodiak. She looks cracking on the water! Out to the patch for bream, bass, mackerel, scad, undulate, dogfish, pout & conger. Busy evening in the light drizzle. Constant rod rattles. And Adam adding more upgrades/improvements!! A few bream, macs and bass in the box (best bass 5lb on the nose). Off home in the dark. Cracking venue, boat, fishing and company. Fresh mackerel for dinner tonight and plenty more for the rest of the week. Rob

Fish of the Year 2024 Date Caught Name Boat Species Weight lb Weight oz Spec lb Spec oz % Specimen 04/08/2024 Dave Evans Reel Magic Shark - Thresher 200 0 140 0 142.86 27/09/2024 Colin Francis Boblin4 Mullet - Thick Lipped 5 8 4 0 137.5 14/07/2024 Adam Franklin Kodiak Gurnard - Red 1 9 1 4 125 06/03/2024 Dave Evans Reel Magic Bull Huss 14 2 12 0 117.71 27/09/2024 Colin Francis Boblin4 Mullet - Thin Lipped 4 1 3 8 116.07 06/03/2024 Charlie Chapman Reel magic Spurdog 18 0 16 0 112.5 19/05/2024 Kev Couzens Reel Magic Brill 5 1 4 8 112.5 07/06/2024 Colin Francis Boblin3 Mullet - Thick Lipped 4 6 4 0 109.38 20/05/2024 Gary Witheford Kingfisher Weever 0 13 0 12 108.33 06/12/2024 Charlie Chapman Alfresco Ray - Small Eyed 11 9 11 0 105.11 Dave Evans with the Fish of the Year, sorry Dave can't resist, wearing a "nappy" as most of us would trying to land one that size!! I meant harness Dave. 😁 Well done Dave, and well deserved. 👋 Great to see all ten fish over 100% specimen, well done to all who recorded fish. 👏

Ben and I met at the boat at 0730 setting off out as the Sun sneaked through under the clouds, it was cold but not as bad as recent weather. The sea state was lovely We picked a spot and anchored up for the last of the flooding tide. Whiting were plentiful but a little smaller than recent trips. and bigger baits were attracting a lot of congers. Ben cooked us up some great sausage baps washed down with hot coffee, then we had a short move. At last a better fish was hooked up and giving a good account of itself in the now quite strong ebb tide. 20250112_130447.mp4 Ben who had been knackered all day struggled a bit with this one. But it was worth it for a very nice 16lb 8 Blonde. As the tide eased a few dogfish and a lot more whiting and congers joined the fun. 1530 I took pity on Ben who was suffering from no sleep on Saturday night, we pulled the anchor to run in and clean down in daylight. Not a bad trip for early in the year, we only took 8 keepers.

Bloody show offs 😁 Merry Christmas from me

Drove along the east cliff on my way home from Dean Court saturday night and it looked perfect conditions with good moonlight and fireworks. Hopefully cover boy J2 will appear below....

Advertised Sunday, sold Saturday. Off to Essex.

JIm its a pleasure to have you aboard but you forgot to mention the Wrasse and Weever I caught not that I was keeping count

Nothing to do with fishing. Been working on this a long time and posting here to show one of the reasons I don't go fishing very often. I took 750 pictures, created a 3D model, trimmed it and filled in holes. Passed it through several bits of software. And created this: As you can tell, I'm rather proud of it. I have donated it to Upton House and I think it'll go in the visitor centre. 👍

I had hoped to create a digital 3D model of Madness on our last trip. All the bobbing about on the water confused the hell out of the software so as yet I've failed. I decided to have a go at creating a carving from a photo. Here's the results so far. This is what my software says I'll get if I carve a real piece of wood. Not the best but to ease the pain I added some fish. 🙂 Hope you appreciate my efforts Mad 1.mp4

A belated report as it has taken me this long to recover, on Sunday after a Saturday visit to an adult panto, we ventured out on Kingfisher Martin, Mal and Chris. Certainly one of us rusty from lack of use, similar to a reel handle of mine. We had plans to go far off, however the weather and sea state put pay to that. We stopped short on 6mile banks as did a few others. With great expectations, a breakfast roll inside us from the cafe on the quay and wearing most of a cup of coffee, the first lines were over, we waited and waited. Then a rod bender, it fought like a cod, it couldn't be could it, no of course not it was a Conger. Followed by a few more and a few Whiting in between, a couple over 2 pounds. We had a grumpy commercial doing a ridiculously close drive by to his buoys for a net he had laid, later he must have taken some happy pills as he was waving like a close friend, funny bunch the commercials. We did not see much in his very long net. The weather was windier than forecast all day with one small lull, there was a few rogue waves amongst them that made me over balance at least once. We did try hard to find something other than above, with a few drop backs on anchor and a couple of moves, just not a lot out there it would seem. A good wash down and a visit to the bar for a quick Guinness and home, a fourteen hour day and a couple of Whiting for the table. Great day out, memories made with some great friends what more do you want out of life.😊

Cheers Colin, first trip out in over 18 months without crutches and a boot. Not bad as I only had the ankle rebuilt end of Nov, all looking good. 🤞👍👍

Happy Christmas to All our members From Jim & Jackie.

Lovely start today(Tuesday). Crossing Christchurch harbour. Hope to fish the needles channel for Bass The plan was to use the obliging tides at Christchurch to put in before nine and retrieve any time after 4.30 and fish the infamous “Bridge” by the needles lighthouse . We would go by way of Hurst castle use the Ebb to drift us along likely looking rocky marks on the island side of the channel this drift , in the light winds it would take us gently down to the Bridge where it can get evil. 🌊🌊🌊🌊 We aimed to arrive 2 hrs before slack water to fish the Bridge proper and possibly up to two hours on the flood. I was optimistic. There was a long rolling swell out of the Harbour but no chop. E 3 planed and cruised all day at 18 to 20 knots so we could get there easily in a half hour. We had time up front to go plaice fishing at Southbourne. An hour of this produced one small plaice. Nets were everywhere. Then we set about executing the plan. And it all went to perfection except for one thing . The Bass didn’t seem to want to play. Slack water was half hr later than the Christchurch harbour table . We waited til 3.00 .We noticed other skippers waiting for the flood whereas We’d fished the Ebb alone.🤔 Anyway We didn’t want to stay there in the fading light And decided that the last hour of daylight would be better spent nearer home so we went back to Southbourne and whilst james was sneaking forward for a sly fag (don’t tell my daughter) his Rod started to go overboard. He just rescued it and after a hard tussle afforded us a photo…… We were running up the channel at 5.00 and out by six. No Bass were hurt in the making of this report.(Apart from one which was pulled out under our noses at Mudeford Quay)🤨

2028555145_TopeYKnot.mp4

Weather window was ok until Sunday lunchtime so J2 and i escaped Wiltshire late Saturday afternoon, rain seemed to follow us unfortunately so early bridge 6.30 helped us get out to the banks with the tide. I again got the tides wrong but luckily spoke to Charlie and Dave the day before who said they were much bigger than i thought. Fishing lures as Macks didn't show, we found Bass but not in great numbers, J2 led the way and showed me how to do it, most were in the 4-5lbs class so we had fun on really light lure rods. Lazy lines produced a few Mackerel for anchoring at slack water. We dropped the hook when the tide dropped to 2.5 knots!! Hoping for Tope and Rays J2 had a goof bite and played a really good fish on a 20-40 Century boat rod for 10-15mins, just as the fish was getting under the boat BANG, the rod broke 18 inches from the tip, he played the fish for another five minutes until it cut the braid well up the line, Tope????!!! We then started to achieve and get decent Tope to the boat with two over 30lbs, Alfresco was close by so called them up and they joined us, unfortunately everything went quiet except Congers and a Blonde Ray. Alfresco headed in and we decided we would use the last two Mackerel and then follow them, two more good Tope and a Blonde followed quickly and we headed to get the 4.30 bridge. I am still struggling to download pictures but Charlie is going to help out!!!! PS we found a Whiting in one of the Bass we kept, oh dear Autumn is coming.

It has been suggested we should hold a Bream Comp this year, i look forward to seeing lots of entries. Bream Comp 10-11th May All other competitions will be run on fish entered to the fish recorder over the year. Tight lines between now and then, and i hope to get a good turnout weather permitting in May Jerry

Charlie's 16 lbs Spurdog.

Nice to be able to help you out with the tides mate. Lol Even better to see you out there having fun in the sunshine, Thanks for the call to come over, but without the fresh bait we did not share your success with the tope. Sorry to hear about J2's rod The pictures came over through WhatsApp I will add them below Nice Bass And the Tope look like great sport I am not sure who had hold of who here Best regards Charlie

Jo and I booked the above trip after a talk at the club meeting from Brittany. Cracking morning out with the @birdsofpooleharbour on an Osprey cruise. Saw plenty of them, even swooping down (if that is the correct term) to take fish, plus numerous other birds including White Tailed Sea Eagle, Marsh Harrier, Peregrine Falcon, Kestrel, Spoonbill, Lapwing, all the usual suspects and a seal. Good weather to start the day off, with lunch and a beer on the Quay. Superb! Highly recommend!!! R

Wishing all the PBSBAC family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

I think this problem started with the netting of flounders for pot bait a few years ago. Then the addition of seals in there ( bass nursery area ???) and the explosion of cormorants / shags is doing the fish stocks catastrophic damage which may never come back with all this predation......but what do I know , the " EXPERTS " seem to think there's no problem !!!

A great day out for me on Y-Knot with Mal, thank you. Lovely day in great company. Photos to follow.

I got Dave to send me his photos of the day. I've put them into a slideshow and uploaded to our Youtube channel: Please click the youtube "LIKE" button. Please click the youtube "SUBSCRIBE" button as well. This will not cost you anything but it helps the algorithm to get our club noticed by more people.

Cracking trip today, not the best forecast and pretty windy and sloppy!! Bass a plenty out there. We had multiple 4-way hook-ups. Mind you, the bass were highly concentrated. Miss the spots and blank drift, fortunately, those were few and far between. I've never been on a boat where the faster you head in to slop, the smoother the ride, awesome! Cracking first use of the oven, Adam made moussaka and we shared a bottle of red once back in calmer waters [emoji108] Thanks chaps. R

Bow repair, the dark showing through is part of an old repair. I can assure you, this a baby bum smooth!

I was talking to my Brother yesterday and I said how much I hate London. He showed me this: Although it's old, I had not seen it before. 👍

My grandson had this one off holes bay about a month or so ago.

The insurance comes from a big pot. It’s impossible for insurance companies to bear the brunt so they all put into a big one , I think CSS or something like that. My car was fully comp but the contents aren’t covered. We have “ExPats” insurance and it turns out it doesn’t cover you for the country you live in, so if I decide to have a holiday in San Sebastián or Cadiz or Mallorca I’m not covered, so only my car and maybe the cost of getting home. The go fund me has been amazing and friends, family and customers have raised a lot to replace some of my tools. Should cover all of my lost Dewalt battery stuff. I’m blown away by people’s generosity at helping out. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk